


Who do you follow first: Your crush? or Their friends?

by prideandpre_judas



Series: Osaka to Sendai - OsaYama [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dinner Party, Established Bokuaka Crumbs, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Time Skip, Practice match, Side AtsuHina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29166108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prideandpre_judas/pseuds/prideandpre_judas
Summary: The Karasuno first years tag along with Hinata to an MSBY get together, causing Osamu to remember the pinch server who had a ridiculously cute laugh. He can't help but fall all over again. Of course no one is going to let him do so quietly.
Relationships: Miya Osamu/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: Osaka to Sendai - OsaYama [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2181015
Comments: 34
Kudos: 120





	1. Chapter 1

Winning at the third round of nationals should’ve felt better, Osamu realized. But somehow, when the ball slammed down on the opponent’s court and ended the second set, there was a twinge of guilt in his chest. Without looking, he knew his brother felt the same, as the only shouting came from the back line while the Miya twins stood near the net after their quick had ended the match.

His brother’s dream spiker, who had been knocked backwards by the force of the ball breaking through his block hadn’t gotten back up. His hands covered his eyes, certainly crying and hoping to hide it, but not bothering to stifle it.

Karasuno’s pinch server had been on the ground after trying to receive the ball that Hinata had managed to touch, but he’d stood up slowly, and looked upwards. He wasn’t crying, but he looked like he wanted to. The tall middle blocker he’d replaced when Inarizaki was at match point stepped onto the court and slung an arm around his shoulder. “That was a good serve,” he heard faintly. If the pinch server began to shake as soon as his face was hidden from the crowd, Osamu pretended not to notice.

Then Osamu was broken from his thoughts by his teammates as they yanked the Miya twins from staring past the net into a group huddle. Osamu set his hand on Atsumu’s shoulder and Atsumu slapped his back in return; they were both smiling when they pulled out of the huddle, but didn’t look back over to the other side until it was time to shake hands.

Atsumu clasped hands with captain under the net and Osamu with the vice-captain just beside Atsumu. Though while the rest of their teammates jogged off to clean off the bench and greet Kita and Aran in the stands, Atsumu and Osamu stayed by the net. “Thought this would feel better,” Atsumu said, clearly remembering the promise he’d made to beat Hinata.

“You think a lotta stupid shit,” Osamu replied, and grabbed Atsumu’s wrist when he tried to whack him. “C’mon.”

Atsumu stumbled after him as he began walking away from the net, but they both stopped and turned around when they heard, “Miya-san,” from behind them. Osamu had been expecting that Hinata might want to issue a return challenge, but he hadn’t expected to see Karasuno’s setter with his hand gripping the collar of Hinata’s jersey.

“Kageyama!” Hinata was complaining, struggling to get free. “Let go!”

When Kageyama finally let go, Hinata jumped back a step to glare at him and fix his jersey. Kageyama just pointed at him. “You still want to set to him?” Kageyama asked.

Atsumu was mildly surprised, if his expression was anything to go by. He wasn’t sure if Hinata remembered, let alone any other member of Karasuno. “Yes,” he answered honestly. Hinata’s evolution never seemed to slow down. He was even more impressive now than he had been as a first year. Of course Atsumu still wanted to set for him.

“And you still want to beat me, right?” Kageyama asked Hinata.

Hinata straightened his back and puffed out his chest. It wasn’t very intimidating with how red his eyes still were. “Obviously.”

“If you get your wish, then I’m going to get the chance to beat you too, one day,” he said to Atsumu. “So you better make the most of him.” And with that he turned back around, grabbing Hinata by the jersey once more. Hinata just squawked again, unable to get a word in edgewise before he was dragged over to greet the crowd.

Atsumu did get his wish, as did Hinata. Atsumu plays side-by-side with his ideal spiker every day, and Hinata got a satisfying win against his high-school-rival-slash-best-friend. Despite this, and how satisfied he should be nearly a year later, Atsumu was currently very unhappy.

Osamu was still on his first beer. Atsumu was on his third. He knew this because Atsumu had lost all shame and was laying on the floor by Osamu’s feet complaining loudly.

They’d had a second match against the Schweiden Adlers that day, and lost this round, but that wasn’t why he was upset. He was upset because it was a dinner party and:

“Shoyo is late! He’s _never_ late,” Atsumu lamented.

“He’s never late for _practice_. Cause he likes practice. Maybe he doesn’t like partyin’.”

“You haven’t heard about his time in Brazil. He likes partyin’,” Atsumu shot back.

“Maybe he doesn’t like you then,” Osamu rolled his eyes and stood up to dodge Atsumu’s nails as he tried to claw him. With Osamu no longer willing to listen to him, Atsumu groaned and sat up from the floor. Though there were other Black Jackal players scattered around the Miyas’ apartment, Atsumu jumped onto the couch next to Bokuto (the only person who would put up with him while insufferably tipsy) and Akaashi. Though the moment Atsumu started to complain to Bokuto, Akaashi patted Atsumu on the shoulder before pressing a quick kiss to Bokuto’s forehead and leaving to find a quieter member of the party.

Relieved of his brother, Osamu walked into the kitchen to grab one of the appetizers that he’d help Atsumu make to impress Hinata.

Though he hadn’t managed to put a few dumplings on his plate before the door opened and Atsumu gasped from across the room. He jumped up from where he’d practically been in Bokuto’s lap and headed towards the front door to greet the new comer with an energetic: “Shoyo-kun!”

Osamu sighed heavily and continued dishing up until he heard a dry, “Ah, the ultimate Hinata simp,” followed by a light chuckle. Neither of those voices belonged to Hinata, and he glanced over the door to see all of the Karasuno players in Hinata’s grade, as well as the manager. Hinata had bound forwards to see Atsumu. Kageyama followed a bit more awkwardly, not as comfortable the Black Jackals and their friends and family as Hinata was.

The other three trailed behind as well. Immediately he recognized the pinch server, who was still smiling over what the tallest in the group had said, and was joking with the blonde manager who had slapped the tallest’s arm.

Osamu’d had bruises on his forearms for the rest of nationals after their second match against Karasuno because of his jump floaters, so of course he recognized him. His name, on the other hand, Osamu couldn’t quite recall.

_Yamashita?_ He thought. _No that’s not right._

Osamu set his plate back down and went to stand beside his brother who was cheerfully greeting Hinata and his company

“Did ya tell me to make food for four extra people?” Osamu asked, and Atsumu bristled at the intense energy Osamu radiated whenever it came to food.

“Coulda sworn I’d mentioned it,” Atsumu said with a cheery smile.

“We ate before coming,” Hinata assured Osamu and was mildly surprised when Osamu’s frown deepened.

Atsumu patted Osamu on the back before shoving him back towards the kitchen and slinging his arm around Hinata’s shoulder. “Don’t mind him, Shoyo-kun. He complains but he really does want people to eat his food. You’ll have to work up an appetite while you’re here.”

Osamu rolled his eyes, but let it go, and walked back to the appetizer plate he’d been loading up for himself.

Atsumu had immediately sequestered Hinata away from his friends, so the pinch server and the two blondes made their way into the living room, where Bokuto immediately stood up to greet them with a grin.

_Uchiyama? No, not that. But closer._

He frowned and looked away. That was when he noticed Kageyama loitering by the kitchen entrance. “Whatcha need, Kageyama-kun?” Osamu asked.

Kageyama was taller now, and much less timid than he’d been in high school. Even if he’d openly challenged Atsumu, he hadn’t said it comfortably, or with confidence. Now he stood fairly relaxed as he told Osamu, “Hinata might not be hungry. I could eat, though.”

Osamu suppressed a smile and stepped away from the plates, making room for Kageyama to serve himself. “How are the Adlers?”

“Good,” Kageyama said simply as he served himself. “We all get along. Not like Hinata and your brother, though.” There was a hint of smugness in his voice that told Osamu that Kageyama was as well aware of Atsumu’s crush on Hinata as he was.

“I don’t think their dynamic is fully teammate-teammate.”

“Me neither,” Kageyama said. With his plate full, he stepped back to lean against the counter beside Osamu as he began to eat.

“Has four-eyes over there interacted much with Atsumu?” he asked, recalling the middle blocker’s comment.

“Tsukishima?” Kageyama asked. When Osamu nodded, he said, “Not really. Atsumu-san crashes our get-togethers sometimes, but he only talks to Hinata.”

Osamu knew that Atsumu followed Hinata to most events when he could, but rolled his eyes knowing his brother intentionally crashed the Karasuno reunions. He crashed the reunions with the Karasuno pinch server—

_Takeyama? Even further. Kageyama?_ Osamu rolled his eyes at himself. _Obviously not, dipshit._

He sighed, giving up. “What are their names? Besides Tsukishima?” Osamu asked, pointing over to where Tsukishima and the other interlopers stood.

“Yachi,” Kageyama said, openly pointing to the manager before moving his finger to gesture to the pinch server. “Yamaguchi.”

_So close!_ He thought, mentally cursing himself for not trying harder before asking. Immediately he could remember the spring inter-high pamphlet. His brother had only shoved it in his face a dozen times when they were third years, excited to play another match against his destined spiker. Yamaguchi Tadashi. 182 centimeters at the time, but taller now. Middle blocker.

Kageyama lowered his hand, but not before Yamaguchi noticed he was being pointed at and cupped his hands over his mouth to shout across the apartment. “Trash talking us over there, Kageyama?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kageyama shouted back.

Tsukishima flipped him off and Yachi whacked him again; but Yamaguchi broke away from the two and headed for the kitchen. Osamu tensed up slightly, because he’d stored far too much information about Karasuno in his head for the past six years and didn’t want to let that slip; but he was sure no one noticed.

“Yamaguchi Tadashi,” Yamaguchi introduced himself, unnecessarily, when he made it to Kageyama’s side.

“Osamu,” Osamu said, reaching past Kageyama’s plate to shake his hand before instructing, “Dish up.”

Yamaguchi hesitated for a second before placing a single tofu cube on his plate, Osamu was sure just to be polite.

“So how long is the Karasuno gang in Osaka?” he asked to pull attention away from the lull of Yamaguchi setting his plate beside him on the counter without eating the lone appetizer on it.

“For the week,” Kageyama answered, before continuing to eat.

Yamaguchi smiled at Kageyama’s chronically simple responses. “We all wanted to watch the game, and since we rarely get the five of us back together, we decided to make it a longer visit. But our pro-athlete friends here are footing the expenses.”

“You were able to take so long from the Adlers?” he asked Kageyama. “It’s still the middle of the division one season.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have a game for a while, and ours and the Jackals’ coaches agreed it’d be good for us to practice together some with other players pre-selected for the Olympics,” Kageyama said. “Ushijima and Hoshiumi are staying too.”

Osamu nodded. He thinks Atsumu might’ve talked about that, but Osamu tuned him out sometimes when it came to his practice schedules. Atsumu could talk a ridiculous amount about practice schedules. “And where do you work, Yamaguchi-kun?”

“An electronics store,” Yamaguchi answered. “I had enough vacation saved up for some time off.” He interlaced his fingers in front of him, and from the fidgeting of his fingers, Osamu could practically see the wheels turning in Yamaguchi’s head as he thought up a way to keep the conversation going, no thanks to the mostly silent Kageyama. “This is yours and Atsumu-san’s place, right?” he asked eventually.

“Yeah,” Osamu sighed. “We lived apart for a while when Atsumu first joined the Jackals. But, ya know. Attachment issues and all that.” _Oops_ , he thought _. Filter, ‘Samu, filter_. He set his beer aside, but Yamaguchi just laughed and Kageyama continued eating, unphased.

But Osamu got stuck for a moment on Yamaguchi’s laugh. He remembered Yamaguchi’s serves well, but his excited laugh when his players had swarmed him after he’d landed a break point had stuck with him vividly. He couldn’t help the feeling on hearing that laugh the first time from swirling in his chest once again.

In the awkward silence that followed, Yamaguchi ate the tofu. His eyes widened slightly. “Damn,” he said. “You made this?” Osamu just nodded and Yamaguchi said, “It’s incredible,” before he pushed off of the counter to genuinely fill his plate.

“Thanks,” Osamu said. He realized he might’ve taken too long to respond, but it didn’t matter. Just then Tsukishima and Yachi finally broke away from Bokuto to join Yamaguchi and Kageyama, and Osamu recognized himself as the odd man out.

He left to find Sakusa and Akaashi out on the balcony to see how Sakusa was faring with cooking on Osamu’s finicky grill.

Yamaguchi watched as Osamu made his way out of the kitchen. He was only trying to remember whether Osamu had worn the number 1 or 2 during their second match; but he realized he was staring when Osamu looked back over his shoulder at him before reaching the balcony. They both looked away quickly.

Embarrassed to have been caught staring, he felt his face flush and looked down, only to notice the conversation around him quiet down.

“Is he blushing?” Yachi asked.

“He’s blushing,” Kageyama answered.

Yamaguchi looked up to meet Tsukishima’s gaze to see if anyone was on his side, but flushed even worse when he saw the knowing grin on his best friend’s face. He walked away from them to grab a beer, but knew they were all still staring at him. He drank a third of the bottle in one go before returning to the group. “Alright, go off on me already,” he conceded, ready to be roasted by his friends.

“Hey, you did better than any of us were expecting,” Yachi consoled him.

“We hardly exchanged four words! And there’s no reason I should be awkward! We never even spoke in high school. I just thought he was hot.”

“You’ve thought a lot of people were hot, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima said, taking a drink from Yamaguchi’s bottle before handing it back. “But you’ve exchanged a lot less than four words with most of them.”

“You guys don’t all get to hang out without me,” Hinata said, sliding into the kitchen in his socks. Yamaguchi let out a breath of relief at the interruption. But the relief didn’t last long as Tsukishima set a hand on Yamaguchi’s shoulder and said, “Don’t think we’re letting this go,” before Kageyama responded to Hinata.

“You were the one who abandoned us the moment you got here.”

“The details don’t matter,” Hinata said, holding out his hands and shaking his head. “Bokuto suggested we all get together for a training camp reunion tomorrow for a practice match.”

“Blocking practice for an Olympic caliber ace? I couldn’t handle him in high school, how am I supposed to handle him now?” Tsukishima complained.

“You were the only one who could stop Ushiwaka,” Yachi added, unhelpfully, to Tsukishima’s case.

“Come on, what else do you have to do while you’re here!” Hinata persisted and Yamaguchi shrugged.

“It would be good practice,” he told Tsukishima who let out a long-suffering sigh but agreed.

“Nice going, Yamaguchi!” Hinata exclaimed, slapping Yamaguchi on the back.

“Ow,” he tried to complain, but was drowned out by Atsumu shouting, “Food’s ready!” as Osamu stepped back inside carrying a platter of the meat Sakusa had cooked.

Kageyama ended up leaving fairly soon after eating, and since he was their ride, Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, and Yachi followed. Hinata, who lived close enough to the Miya twins to walk, hung behind, so the drive was a lot quieter than it could’ve been. “Hinata said we’re meeting the rest of the Jackals at the training center at ten tomorrow,” Kageyama told them as they stepped out of his car at the hotel. “We’ll swing by to pick you up around nine thirty.”

Yamaguchi gave him a thumbs up before shutting the door and letting Kageyama drive off. They all rode the elevator up together, but Yachi had her own room and she split off at the beginning of the hallway, while Yamaguchi and Tsukishima continued to their room.

Once inside, Yamaguchi immediately collapsed forwards onto his queen-sized bed while Tsukishima took the time to remove his jacket and plug his phone in before sitting down on the other bed.

“Why was today more tiring than yesterday,” he complained.

“Because you slept the whole time on the train,” Tsukishima said dryly, before his grin returned and Yamaguchi knew he was about to bring up the dinner party. Yamaguchi quickly reached up to the top of the bed to grab a pillow and slam it down over his ears, but that didn’t drown out Tsukki’s, “ _And_ you had to interact with your high school crush.”

Yamaguchi could practically hear the taunting _araraaaaa_ by his tone alone. “He wasn’t even my crush! We never spoke!” he groaned.

Tsukishima just laughed. “Well now that you’ve finally spoken, did he live up to your second-year fantasy?”

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes, but threw the pillow off of his head and sat up. “His cooking did,” he said honestly. “Now I’m going to take a shower just so you’ll leave me _alone_ for ten minutes.”

“He was totally staring at you the whole time you were in the kitchen together,” Tsukishima said before he put on his headphones and laid down with his hands behind his head.

Yamaguchi flushed before storming into the bathroom and shutting the door behind himself.

Osamu and Atsumu had met up with Bokuto and Akaashi outside of the training center and got to work readying the court for a practice match while they waited for the Karasuno group.

All five of them ended up showing up together in Kageyama’s car. It looked like Yamaguchi had been stuck in the back with the two short members of their group from the way he was stretching out his back when they made walked in.

“G’mornin’, Shoyo-kun!” Atsumu drawled before bounding up to his favorite teammate.

Osamu certainly hadn’t placed himself on water bottle duty which was closest to the entrance so he could say hi to the Karasuno team. And he _certainly_ hadn’t worn his best fitting exercise clothes and styled his hair.

But even if he had done those things to prepare, he still would’ve been flustered when Yamaguchi walked up to him in _his_ best fitting exercise clothes. “Morning, Osamu-san,” he said politely. “Is there anything we can do to help with setting up?”

Osamu willed himself to be calm before turning to meet Yamaguchi’s eyes. “Mornin’,” he said, miraculously avoiding his voice shaking. “I think the others have everythin’ under control equipment-wise. But ya could grab some towels from the utility closet or help me with fillin’ water bottles.”

His internal monologue had been a repeating _Cringe! Cringe!_ since the night before when Yamaguchi had caught him staring, but when Yamaguchi turned over his shoulder to instruct Tsukishima to grab the towels and he reached down to gather up the bottles Osamu couldn’t carry, it morphed into a constant scream. “Lead the way,” he said, smiling.

Osamu swallowed and nodded before walking Yamaguchi over to the row of fountains. He screwed the lid off of the first one and cleared his throat, “Are ya likin’ Osaka so far, Yamaguchi-kun?”

“I am!” he replied, with a gentle enthusiasm. “It’s pretty different from home, but it’s nice. Especially the time away from work.” Yamaguchi laughed softly and the frequency of the scream in Osamu’s head increased. “Kidding. I like my job.”

“What department do ya work in?”

“IT and computer repairs. It’s a bit more customer service than I was expecting, but it’s not bad. People are pretty nice when they know you can see everything on their computers.” He laughed again, but it was more of a chaotic snicker and Osamu shook his head to try to clear it slightly.

_I’m gonna lose it. I’m gonna lose my mind._

“You must deal in customer service a lot more than me, though,” Yamaguchi continued. “How is Onigiri Miya?”

“Business is good. ‘Specially when I serve at ‘Tsumu’s games. Name recognition goes a long way.”

“I bet. But your cooking skills go further, I’m sure.”

“You should let me cook for ya sometime,” Osamu said before he’d even processed that train of thought. _Filter! Filter! Filter! Cringe!_ “I—I mean, you and the Karasuno gang should swing by my shop before ya head out.” He’d filled up the last water bottle and screwed the cap on tightly. “All done?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Yamaguchi replied airily. “To, uh. To both. All filled,” he said shaking the bottles, then he continued. “And you should cook for me sometime. At the shop.”

“Cool,” Osamu said, before shutting up for the rest of eternity and leading their way back to the court.

Everyone was warming up, and once they’d set down the water bottles, Osamu joined Atsumu for passing drills.

Yachi was set up on the referee stand, and once she blew the whistle, the players all gathered up. Osamu tried to follow Atsumu towards the court, but Atsumu stopped him before they made it to the net. “Sorry, ‘Samu. We’re against each other this time.”

Osamu glared at him. “What?”

“They decided when putting up the net,” Akaashi said plainly. “Those pre-selected for the Olympic team on one side, and us normal people on the other.”

Bokuto, Hinata, and Kageyama made their way over to Atsumu’s side, and with a sigh, Osamu ducked under the net to join Akaashi, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima. “This seems mildly unfair.”

“Aw, but we gotta practice together if we wanna lead Japan to victory next year,” Atsumu cooed and Bokuto grinned.

“Plus you’ve got Akaashi for a setter. He’s better than Atsumu and Kageyama combined!” Bokuto bragged.

“That’s false,” Akaashi replied, but there was the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

Osamu just sighed again, but he and the others quickly decided on their formation. At least their team was a little more balanced than Atsumu’s two-setters-two-wing-spikers line up, but Hinata still had the instinct of a middle blocker regardless of his position title. Osamu ended up on the back row, starting on the left while Yamaguchi readied to serve.

“At least glad I won’t have to dig yer serves on this side,” Osamu told him. “Those were killer in high school.”

Yamaguchi grinned. “Are you on a neighborhood team, Osamu-san?” he asked.

Osamu shook his head. “Not enough time with the restaurant. ‘Tsumu and I practice sometimes though.”

Yamaguchi hummed. “Well, not to sound too cocky. But if you’re out of practice, you might not be able to dig them at all. I’ve had nothing but time to improve.”

Osamu’s eyebrows raised, but Yamaguchi had already tossed the ball into the air and stepped forwards. His jump was higher than Osamu remembered, and his technique was far cleaner than it had been in high school. Neither Tsukishima nor Akaashi bothered to cover the backs of their heads. The ball followed the perfect trajectory to the back right corner of the court, and Kageyama got his wrist under it, but it flew off the side of the court. “Nice serve,” Tsukishima said as Akaashi turned to give him a thumbs up. Osamu looked back to Yamaguchi who was looking at him with a cocky grin.

“Alright,” Osamu conceded. “I wouldn’ta been able to get that.”

Hinata tossed the ball back over the net to Yamaguchi who caught it easily and stepped back behind the line to serve again. This time, Hinata was able to catch it in an overhand receive and send it to Atsumu. Though Hinata was down on one knee and Bokuto was too close behind Atsumu, so he had to toss to Kageyama. And of course Yamaguchi and Tsukishima still practiced with the Olympic candidates they graduated with, so Tsukishima knew the perfect timing for the block. He and Akaashi jumped at the right moment to stop Kageyama’s back attack.

But that also meant Kageyama and Hinata were somewhat used to their moves as well, so Kageyama dug Yamaguchi’s next serve and Bokuto slammed it down over the top of Akaashi’s head. After that, it was painfully clear that the teams were unevenly matched. The first set ended 25-13 which had Atsumu cackling, “Who’s livin’ the happier life now, jerkwad!”

Osamu stuck his tongue out at brother and wiped the sweat from his forehead, before snarking, “You’ve gotta live on an athlete’s diet even though yer brother’s a master chef, you tell me!”

Atsumu stuck his tongue out back at him and they both glared at each other through the net before Yachi blew her whistle to start the next set.

“That bastard,” Osamu wheezed, laying on his back on the court as Atsumu tried to get down from Bokuto’s shoulders. He’d targeted Osamu and scored the last three points off of him without Osamu properly receiving one of them.

“That’s what you get for not joining a neighborhood league, I guess,” Yamaguchi said from beside him before proffering a water bottle he’d gotten from the cooler.

“Thanks,” Osamu said and sat up with a groan, accepting the bottle as Yamaguchi took a seat beside him.

“Do you miss it?” Yamaguchi asked and Osamu shrugged.

“Sometimes. It’s mostly weird cause ‘Tsumu and I always compete over everythin’. Though he can’t cook for shit and clearly, I’m rusty as all hell in volleyball. So we don’t really know what to compete over anymore.”

Yamaguchi hummed. “Change like that is tough. But I think there are still a lot of ways to compete, even if it’s not directly. What was that about ‘the happier life’?”

Osamu laughed slightly. “Yeah we still compete.” Then he was pulled away from the conversation by Atsumu calling his name from across the gym where he had his arm around Hinata’s shoulders. Yamaguchi stood up then held out his hand to help Osamu up, which he did with ease. “Don’t know how I feel ‘bout you bein’ stronger than me now. You were pretty scrawny in high school.”

Yamaguchi willed his face not to flush and grinned with false confidence instead. “Oh, so you remember what I looked like in high school?”

There was a pause where neither broke eye contact before Osamu finally blinked. “Anyways,” Osamu said and waved before turning around and running towards his brother.

Yamaguchi walked slowly back towards Kageyama, Yachi, and Tsukishima, and overheard, “Hinata has to know, right?” from Kageyama.

“He _has_ to,” Yachi stressed. “Atsumu literally hangs off of him.”

“We can sort out what Hinata knows later,” Tsukishima said as Yamaguchi joined them. “How was the other Miya twin?”

“Out of shape if he was tired from a single game,” Kageyama answered.

“Oh, I think he just wanted an excuse to hold Yamaguchi’s hand,” Tsukishima said.

“Aw, while he’s so sweaty, too. That’s so romantic.”

Yamaguchi didn’t know why he thought he could trust Yachi and groaned. “Can you please go back to making fun of Atsumu?”

Kageyama was looking over his shoulder when he said, “I think we found a new twin to bully for being a simp.”

“What?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Don’t look,” Kageyama told them. “But Osamu is totally staring.”

Yamaguchi tensed up and immediately turned around to make eye contact again with Osamu. This time, unlike the night before, Osamu was a bit smoother about looking away as he went back to his conversation with Atsumu. Yamaguchi whipped back around. “He’s not staring at _me_. The tag is probably sticking out of my shirt or something.” Tsukishima leaned back to check and shook his head. Yamaguchi shoved him. “There’s no way Osamu is a simp. Atsumu has to have more than enough of that for the both of them. And if he _was_ a simp, it’d be for Hinata. Like everyone else.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Hinata asked, materializing behind Tsukishima.

“Fuck!” Tsukishima said at the sudden reappearance of the fifth member of their party who had slipped away from Atsumu once Osamu accidentally whacked Hinata instead of his brother.

“How Osamu has a crush on Yamaguchi,” Kageyama said plainly.

“Ohhh,” Hinata said as though something had just clicked for him.

Everyone in the group looked sharply towards him. “‘Ohhh’ what?” Yachi pressed.

“Well, after the party last night, Atsumu liked and then unliked a super old photo of the five of us from freshman year. When I asked him about it, he said Osamu had been using his phone and must’ve done it by accident.”

Everyone looked to Yamaguchi who shook his head. “That means absolutely nothing to me.”

He found Yamaguchi’s Instagram in a few minutes. It took him a few hours to decide whether or not he should follow him. They hardly knew each other. Was he really so hopeless that if a boy smiled at him a few times he felt the need to internet stalk him?

“Followin’ is not stalkin’,” he told himself out loud. Which he regretted immediately when he opened his eyes and saw his brother standing in the doorway.

“Who are we stalking?” Atsumu asked before jumping onto the bed beside Osamu and grabbing his phone. It was moments like this when Osamu regretted that he and Atsumu knew each other’s passwords for everything, because a second later, Atsumu was staring at Yamaguchi’s profile. He was silent for a single moment before screeching, “ _Tadashi?!_ ”

Osamu groaned and tried to snatch his phone back.

“I thought you liked that picture of Shoyo’s for the four-eyes!”

“Why would you think that?” he asked.

“Cause as yer brother and best friend I thought you woulda told me if you got over yer thing for people with glasses.”

“Just ‘cause I think glasses are cute doesn’t mean I _only_ like people with glasses. Besides, Tsukishima is a piece of work.”

Atsumu sighed and looked over Osamu’s shoulder as he stared at the _request to follow_ button. “Well at least he still ended up on yer team with the way we split things.”

“That was intentional?”

“Obviously! We always play on the same team, loser. That was the only low-key way I could think of to pair ya up.” Atsumu began shaking his leg and tossed his head back. “What are ya waitin’ for? Let’s stalk.”

Osamu hesitated for a moment before heaving a heavy sigh. “Alright. First I’m just gonna…” He trailed off, but moved back to the discovery page and immediately requested to follow all the other Karasuno first years before requesting to follow the only one he was interested in.

“God, you’re so weird.”

Osamu shoved him before dropping his phone. “It’d be too obvious if I only followed him.”

“I guess. I still think it’s pretty obvious, though. ‘Specially since you followed Tsukki and Hitoka first. You’ve barely even talked to them. Followin’ him last has gotta mean somethin’.”

“Whatever. It’s not like they’re gonna know who I requested first unless they compare that kinda shit.”

Osamu just pulled his legs up to his chest to set his head on his knees. Atsumu pulled out his own phone to scroll through his feed while they waited, but it wasn’t long before Osamu’s phone buzzed. He quickly snatched it back up.

> 6:55
> 
> _Yamaguchi Tadashi has accepted your follow request._
> 
> _Yamaguchi Tadashi has requested to follow you._

Osamu let out an exaggerated sigh of relief before opening his phone. He didn’t accept Yamaguchi’s request immediately, since he didn’t want it to look like he’d been waiting for it, but he did open up to Yamaguchi’s page to scroll through his grid.

Atsumu, of course, was leaning just over his shoulder.

There were quite a few pictures of his plants sitting on his desk at work, one of him in his electronics store uniform, one of the Karasuno team at what must have been a reunion, and one—

“Oh shit,” Atsumu snickered as Osamu stopped at a selfie of Yamaguchi just outside an optometrist office.

The caption read:

> _New look!  
>  .  
>  .  
>  Just kidding. My contact prescription ran out and it’s just going to take a while to refill.  
>  Temporarily returning to an old look!_

Osamu could hardly bring himself to look just above that ridiculously cute caption. Eventually he did, however. And saw Yamaguchi smiling, eyes hidden slightly by the glare reflecting off of the thick lenses of his _glasses_. They were the type with the large frames that were trending a few years back when Yamaguchi must’ve gotten them. Even though the trend had passed, they still looked so good with his freckled cheeks and teasing smile.

“Wait, wait he has a story, look at his story,” Atsumu said, but didn’t give Osamu the chance to react before he reached over his shoulder to open Yamaguchi’s story. When it came up, they both froze and Osamu put his head in his hands. “Oh my god.”

“Okay, that’s sus,” Kageyama said. He was the only one sitting by the phones while everyone else was in the hotel pool, and he watched their screens light up one by one with follow requests from Miya Osamu, starting with his and ending with Yamaguchi’s.

“What is?” Hinata asked, clambering out of the pool and shaking out his hair like a dog.

“Stay away from the phones until you’ve dried off!” Tsukishima yelled at him, but Hinata just stuck out his tongue before catching the towel Kageyama threw at him and heading over to the phones. He picked up his and noticed the notification. He raised an eyebrow and Kageyama said, “All of us. In like. A minute.”

“Sus,” Hinata agreed.

“Do the Miyas know we’re all hanging out?” Kageyama asked.

“I don’t think so.” Hinata replied.

“Why?” Yachi asked as she, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima all stepped out of the pool as well.

“Come check your phones.”

Yamaguchi reached for his and nearly dropped it when he saw the notification at the top. Tsukishima giggled and everyone showed Yamaguchi their screens.

“We just played a game this afternoon, it’s not that weird,” he rationalized.

“It’s a little weird,” Tsukishima said.

“Wait!” Yachi shouted. “No one accept yet.”

“Why?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Yamaguchi, give me your phone.”

“ _Why?_ ” he asked again, but didn’t react fast enough before Hinata snatched it from him to hand it to Yachi who immediately opened his camera and set it to a timer pic.

“We’re updating your story,” she told him before ushering everyone to line up. “Pose.”

“I don’t—” Yamaguchi tried to protest, but Kageyama and Tsukishima both set an elbow on one of his shoulders while Yachi and Hinata posed in front of him, so he decided to smile awkwardly and get it over with.

After the camera shuttered Yachi ran forward to grab it again and handed it to Yamaguchi. “Post this on your story before accepting. I’m begging you.”

Yamaguchi just sighed and unlocked his phone. “Do it for me,” he requested before holding it back out for his friends to grab.

Hinata gladly took it from his open palm and quickly posted the photo after adding a few stickers to complete the trap. The moment it was up, Hinata accepted Yamaguchi’s request from Osamu before following back. Once Hinata had handed him his phone back, Yamaguchi looked at the story and rolled his eyes. “You guys suck,” he said, then locked his phone again before getting back in the pool.

The picture had everyone but Yamaguchi holding their phones in front of them. The sticker he’d added was a poll. It read,

> _Who do you follow first?_

With the options beneath it being

> _Your crush_ or _Their friends_

Yachi just high-fived Hinata before they jumped in after Yamaguchi.

Nearly two hours later, Osamu was nearly recovered. Them holding their phones didn’t mean anything. They weren’t teasing him specifically. They didn’t have him figured out. It wasn’t that obvious. Even the poll could’ve been a coincidence.

Osamu was _nearly recovered_ when he heard his phone buzz repeatedly. Assuming it was a group chat blowing up, he ignored it for all of five minutes until the notification flurry was followed by a single buzz. When he picked up his phone, he nearly dropped it again.

> 8:27
> 
> _Hinata Shoyo has requested to follow you_
> 
> _Kageyama Tobio has accepted your follow request_
> 
> _Hinata Shoyo has accepted your follow request_
> 
> _Yachi Hitoka has accepted your follow request_
> 
> _Kageyama Tobio has requested to follow you_
> 
> _Tsukishima Kei has accepted your follow request_
> 
> _Yachi Hitoka has requested to follow you_
> 
> _8:32_
> 
> _Tsukishima Kei has requested to follow you_

They were absolutely teasing him. They had him figured out. It _was_ that obvious.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not proof read this im so sorry ill probably come back through to make edits later. enjoy!

Osamu buried himself under a rock after that. He never needed to see the light of day again. He wore a face mask on his way to and from the restaurant and was determined not to leave the house until the Karasuno first years were back on their way to Sendai. That was until Atsumu dragged him to the grocery store because he kept buying the wrong kelp and he wanted Osamu to help him pack Hinata a bento. “You’re not gonna run into him in a grocery store on this side of town,” Atsumu chastise as he shoved his brother—currently wearing his mask and the hood of his jacket—to the seafood section of the store. “You’re not that lucky.”

“ _Unlucky_. Un-luck-y. Lucky would be never seein’ any of those damn crows again. God how am I supposed to face Hinata?” he asked. After he’d picked out the right kelp, he pointed the packaging at Atsumu. “You’re not allowed to bring him over anymore.”

“Fuck that,” Atsumu said, rolling his eyes. “They’ve probably forgotten all about it.”

All Osamu could hear from his brother was: “ _by tomorrow this whole ugly mess will be a funny memory_ ” before his brain filled in the rest of the audio clip: “ _OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT!_ ”

Though he was lucky. He didn’t run into the man who had started this whole mess at the grocery store or on the subway. The week was almost up, and he let his guard down, which was the worst mistake he could have made.

The afternoons were always slow at Onigiri Miya, so usually only he, another chef, and a server were working. The server was on a break though, so he was managing the front, and with no customers he decided to refill the napkin dispensers in the corner of the store to pass the time. He’d loaded it as high as he could when the bell over the door jingled. “Welcome,” he shouted over his shoulder as he tried to slam the full dispenser shut. “How many?”

“Table for five?” the patron responded.

_Fuck me!_ He screamed internally. He recognized the voice immediately, and before even turning around he knew exactly which five to expect. He turned around with a forced smile. “Well, if it’s not the famous quintet!” he said lightly.

“Thought we would take you up on that offer before leaving,” Yamaguchi said.

Osamu picked up the box with the remaining napkins and walked back towards them before setting the box down behind the counter and grabbing five menus. “Glad ya did. You’d be surprised how many old competitors I’ve served since we opened. Hopin’ to get all of them before I retire.” He walked them to a booth by the window and set down the menus. “Take your time lookin’ at the menu, and order whatever. It’s on the house,” he patted Hinata’s shoulder as Hinata sat down. “‘Tsumu would kill me if he knew I charged Hinata-kun for eating here.”

Osamu saw Yamaguchi and Tsukishima exchange a look he couldn’t read, but he left the group to look over the menu while he went to fill up waters. Once he was facing away from them, he bit the inside of his cheek and cringed _. How embarrassing. They already know you’re a simp you don’t have to pretend it’s Atsumu’s idea! Idiot._

Though the server returned once he’d filled up five glasses. “People always show up when I take my break, huh?” she said and Osamu smiled.

“Some timing you’ve got there, Mari-chan,” he said and lifted up the tray of glasses to set in her outstretched hands. “These guys are friends of my brother, so it’s on me. Treat them well.”

“Yes, sir,” she said before walking over to introduce herself to the table while Osamu headed back into the kitchen. Once he was hidden from the table’s view, he exhaled heavily. “Unlucky,” he told himself, and began wiping down the kitchen counters to pass time before he had to fulfill his promise to cook for Yamaguchi.

When Mari returned with their order, the other chef moved to grab it but Osamu stopped him. “I’ll actually handle this one. We just had an online order come through, though. Can you handle that one for me?”

The chef nodded and Osamu took the server’s note. They didn’t order much, which he supposed was to be expected for a mid-afternoon meal, but he still sighed with some disappointment. It was the single tofu cube all over. Though when he saw the tofu on the note, he knew that one was Yamaguchi’s order and smiled.

He was able to make the food quickly, dodging around his other chef to grab everything he needed, then called Mari in before he accompanied Mari in carrying out the food. “The sashimi?” he asked, and passed the plate to Yachi, then held the tofu in front of Yamaguchi. “Yours?” he asked and received a grin in response. Taking that as a yes, he set the plate down right in front of him. “Enjoy,” he said, a little too quiet for it to have been addressed to the whole table.

“ _Itadakimasu_ ,” Yamaguchi replied, a little too quiet for it to be a general thanks to the establishment as a whole.

Osamu tucked the now empty tray under his arm and headed back towards the kitchen to hide in shame while Karasuno ate. Though another party shuffled in shortly after, and he was able to distract himself next to his co-chef as they prepared the next round of meals and to-go orders. He was halfway through packing the perfect onigiri when Mari leaned into the kitchen and he nearly dropped it. “One of your brother’s friends wants to talk to you,” she said and Osamu set the onigiri down carefully before washing his hands and heading out to the restaurant to see Yamaguchi leaning against the counter.

“Hiya, Yamaguchi-kun. How was the food?”

“Incredible,” Yamaguchi told him. “I tried some of everyone else’s too. I still think the tofu was the best though.”

Osamu smiled at the compliment. “Glad ya liked it!”

“You travel with Atsumu-san to serve at his away-games sometimes, right?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I usually try to have a cart at each of his games. I can keep a better eye on him that way, you get me?”

Yamaguchi snickered. “I think so. Well,” he shrugged. “If he has any games up north, you should let me know. I’ll take any opportunity to eat your cooking.”

Osamu furrowed his brow slightly, knowing that Hinata would tell Yamaguchi about any games near Sendai, before something clicked. Osamu paused, afraid he might be reading the vibe wrong, but he knew he had to get used to non-verbal communication with people who didn’t have genetically identical cues to him. And he was pretty sure he knew what Yamaguchi’s look meant. He took a steadying breath before returning Yamaguchi’s gaze. “Say, Yamaguchi-kun. Could I get yer number?”

He heard Yachi choke on her water at the table just over from them and he realized it had been awfully quiet over there. Of course they were eavesdropping. He’d do the same thing. But Yamaguchi just smiled. “Thought you’d never ask,” he said and held out his hand. It took Osamu a second before he realized Yamaguchi was asking for his phone.

He reacted with the lag time of a YouTube video on a dentist office’s wifi, and pulled his phone from his pocket. He opened it to a new contact before placing it in Yamaguchi’s hand. He felt himself begin to sweat worried that his brother would text him something embarrassing while his phone was in Yamaguchi’s hands.

“Thanks,” he said when Yamaguchi handed him his phone back, and was impressed he’d managed to say that without stuttering. Though he was startled when his phone wasn’t the only thing Yamaguchi had handed him. He picked up his phone with his other hand to see several bills folded neatly in his palm. “Mari didn’t give you a check, did she?” he asked, confused.

“She didn’t need to.” Yamaguchi just pointed over his shoulder and Osamu saw Tsukishima hold up his phone, open to the calculator app.

Osamu shook his head, but laughed. “You guys are pretty weird, ya know?”

“I know,” Yamaguchi said. “You should be happy about that, though. If we were normal, Hinata probably wouldn’t know what to do with your brother.”

“Chyeah. Guess he got lucky there,” Osamu said, then after a pause, he leaned in closer and lowered his voice so the spying crows wouldn’t overhear. “They’d be good for each other, don’tcha think?”

Yamaguchi looked at him, and Osamu realized he might be too close for comfort when Yamaguchi smiled back, the light behind it nearly knocking Osamu breathless. “Yeah. I think so.”

Yamaguchi sighed heavily when they finally had their room fully packed.

“Not ready to head back?” Tsukki asked.

“Nope. You?”

“Kinda. It’s always nicer to sleep at home than in a hotel.”

They did a double check of the room to make sure they weren’t forgetting anything before meeting Yachi by the elevator. Hinata and Kageyama were waiting for them in the lobby. It was kind of a melancholy ride. It had been so long since all five of them had been together, and they knew with the Olympics coming up, Hinata and Kageyama would be busy for the foreseeable future. They didn’t know when they would all be together again.

It was clear that the whole group was thinking the same thing, since when they got out of the car at the train station, they all huddled together for a long hug before pulling back. Yachi was clearly on the verge of tears but shook them back.

“Hinata, before we go, I just have to ask,” Yachi took a deep breath and everyone shut up to listen to the question. “You know Atsumu is in love with you, right?”

Hinata blinked. “Well, yeah,” he said simply.

“Do you not feel the same way?” she pressed.

“No, I like him too.”

Everyone was deadly silent for all of thirty seconds before Yamaguchi yelled, “Then why haven’t you done anything yet!”

“Cause Atsumu isn’t all that experienced in relationships,” Hinata said as though it were obvious. “I figured I’d let him set the pace.”

“That pace is a _crawl_ ,” Tsukishima bemoaned. “You have that man on his hands and knees, just put him out of his misery. Tell him how you feel, I’m begging you.”

Hinata laughed. “Don’t be silly. Atsumu knows how I feel.”

“No,” Kageyama said. “I’m certain he does not.”

Yamaguchi just rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone. They’d only exchanged a few texts the day before. Osamu had shut the store late, and they’d all gone to bed early to make the train, but Yamaguchi did have a direct line of communication now, and he made use of it. ‘ _i can’t tell you my sources,_ ’ he typed out, ‘ _but i think it’s time for Atsumu-san to make his move_ ’

He slipped his phone back into his pocket and tuned back into the conversation to hear Yachi say, “Hinata, we love you, but you’re surprisingly bad at communicating sometimes.”

Hinata just set his hand on Yachi’s shoulder. “I love you too,” he grinned. Then he tugged her into a hug, signaling the end of the conversation. The rest of the group sighed in defeat before joining in on the hug. They managed to get through the goodbyes without any tears, which Yamaguchi thought was pretty good for them. Especially for him and Yachi.

“Nothing is ever going to happen,” Tsukishima said as they walked towards the train.

Yachi sighed. “He’s going to die alone.”

Yamaguchi just snickered. Once they’d gotten settled into their seats, Yamaguchi pulled back out his phone and opened the notification at the top of the screen.

‘ _I’ll pass along the intel,’_ Osamu had texted back. ‘ _Safe travels._ ’

Yamaguchi tried not to smile but Tsukishima from beside him said, “Send him an emoji,” before he pulled his sleep mask over his eyes and reclined in his seat.

Yamaguchi brought his feet up to the seat to lean against the window as the train started moving. Then he sent a train emoji and an onigiri roll emoji. ‘ _good luck at work!’_

He hadn’t even locked his phone before Osamu responded with a bento and a smattering of other food emojis. Yamaguchi snickered and Tsukishima shook his head before putting on his headphones to drown him out.

The trip was long and draining. Even though he’d been able to sleep on his way there, it seemed he wouldn’t be so lucky on the way home. They parted with Yachi in Tokyo as she headed back towards her apartment and Yamaguchi and Tsukishima rushed to catch the line back to Sendai. Akiteru was there to pick them up at the station before dropping Yamaguchi off at his apartment and forcing Tsukki to eat lunch before agreeing to take him home.

Yamaguchi stepped back into his apartment and sighed in relief. He did understand what Tsukishima meant about sleeping better at home. There really was nothing like it. He slammed the door shut behind himself and passed out the moment he hit his bed, leaving his unpacked bags at the front door.

He woke up late in the afternoon to a severe hunger reminding him he hadn’t eaten since the hotel breakfast. But before he could head to the kitchen, he heard his phone buzz on his nightstand and reached over to pick it up.

‘ _Made it home safe, I hope?’_ Osamu had texted him, including emojis depicting the trip from a hotel and through the mountains all the way back to the home emoji.

Yamaguchi couldn’t help but smile and shook his head ‘ _made it home safe. good day at work, i hope?’_

_‘Good day at work. Bout to get busy, though so I should head back. Eat dinner please.’_

Yamaguchi groaned but sat up off of his bed. He was far too tired to cook anything healthy, but threw an instant meal into the oven, and once it was heated up, he sent a picture to Osamu. ‘ _rate my plate, mr. ramsey’_

It was an hour later before he got a response, but he laughed loudly when the text finally showed up. Osamu had said:

_‘ >;( ’_

A week later, Atsumu came home late from practice and entered silently rather than with his typical complaints about how starving he was and demands for Osamu to cook dinner. _That can’t be good,_ Osamu thought, setting his phone down and sitting up from the couch. “‘Tsumu? Everythin’ alright?”

Atsumu just walked quietly into the living room and dropped his gym bag at the foot of the couch before collapsing face-down onto the floor. “No.”

Osamu paused. “You talked to Hinata?”

Atsumu nodded then said something, which was muffled by the carpet.

“Huh?”

“He kissed me.”

“He _what_?” Osamu gaped, kicking Atsumu’s shoulder to roll him over onto his back. Atsumu raised his hands to cover his eyes but he couldn’t hide his grin.

“ _He kissed me_ ,” he said again, like he couldn’t believe it was true before he started laughing. “Holy shit. Holy shit! ‘Samu, give me your phone.”

“ _Huh?_ ” he asked again.

“Give me your phone! Tadashi is now the love of my life, I need to thank him. I have to send him a gift. Get him on the phone, I need his address.”

Osamu shook his head, nearly given whiplash from the conversation before he picked up his phone, tilting his screen away from his brother. Atsumu didn’t need to know he was already halfway through a message to Yamaguchi to remind him to eat something healthy. He slid open the contact and dialed. It rang a few times before Yamaguchi picked up with a distracted, “Hello?” and the scraping sound of jingling keys and the turning of a lock.

“My brother wants your address.”

“Osamu-san? Wait—he what? _Why?_ ” Yamaguchi asked, sounding afraid for his mortal life. Before Osamu could respond, Atsumu had snatched the phone from his hand.

“Tadashi-kun, you’re getting an edible arrangement. Or a bouquet. Or anythin’, ask me for anythin’ and it’s yours—”

Osamu grabbed his phone back and smacked Atsumu upside the head. “Sorry ‘bout him. I’m guessin’ ‘Tsumu took your advice. He’s entirely incoherent, but I’m pretty sure he and Hinata might be datin’ now.”

“Is that why the Karasuno snapchat group hasn’t shut up in the last hour?” Yamaguchi spluttered.

“Are you ignorin’ your friend in the middle of a crisis?”

“I just got home from work! I haven’t checked my phone all day!”

_But he answered for me,_ Osamu grinned to himself. Before pinching himself. _Don’t read into it, dumbass_. “You might wanna check that, then.”

“Ask him for his address!” Atsumu whined, tugging on Osamu’s arm before he was whacked again.

“I did already, lay off!” he snapped and heard Yamaguchi laugh.

“Tell him I don’t need an edible arrangement. I’m just happy for Hinata. Though I should stop ignoring him during his crisis. Is it alright if I call you back in a bit?”

Osamu was sure his gulp was nearly audible. _He wants to call me back_ , he nearly swooned. “‘Course. And eat somethin’ while you’re at it. Tell Hinata I’m happy for him too, but my condolences that he’s gotta put up with my brother outside of practice now. _Ow_ ,” he hissed when Atsumu smacked him.

Yamaguchi laughed. “Will do. Talk to you soon,” he said, then ended the call.

Osamu fell backwards onto the couch. “He’s gonna call me back,” he said, to see if that made it feel real.

“With his address? ‘Cause I’m not kiddin’. If he won’t give it to me, I’ll get it from Shoyo—” he froze and flushed all over again before slapping his hand over his mouth. He dropped back onto the floor. “ _Who kissed me_ ,” he said, to see if that made it feel real.

They were both quiet for a minute before busting into laughter.

“How’d you get so damn lucky?” Osamu asked, still awestruck by the announcement.

“I have no idea, but I’m not complainin’,” Atsumu said, his grin wider than ever before. “I’m countin’ on you to lock down Tadashi. I’m gonna be making this up to him for the rest of my life.”

“You know I’m tryin’,” Osamu said, rolling his eyes, but holding his phone tight just waiting for it to ring.

And the fact that it did less than an hour later had him ecstatic.

“I thought of something,” Yamaguchi said as soon as Osamu answered.

“Oh yeah?”

“I don’t _need_ a gift. But Onigiri Miya is just a little outside of what Uber Eats will deliver—”

_By about 500 miles_ , Osamu thought.

“And your brother did say _anything_. Do you think you could get him to overnight me something from your restaurant?”

Osamu covered his face, at least hiding his grin if he couldn’t contain it. “Send me your address, Yamaguchi-kun.”

A polystyrene container filled with dry ice and a takeout bag arrived a day later. Yamaguchi hadn’t actually been expecting him to follow through, but he wasn’t surprised either. The note sitting atop of the bad read:

_Rate my plate, Yamaguchi-kun_.

Though it didn’t end there. It had been two months, and at least once a week, Yamaguchi had a fresh-prepared dinner, and a phone call to accompany it. The texts didn’t end either, but lessened when they exchanged snapchats, and rather than good morning texts reminding him to eat breakfast, he got pictures of Osamu with his dark hair messy from sleep that caused his heart to stutter. He still hadn’t gotten the courage to screenshot one, but he left them open as long as he could justify before finally replying after his face was washed and hair combed. Not everyone woke up looking like Miya Osamu.

But that day Yamaguchi hadn’t replied to any texts let alone run down his battery using snapchat. His head was pounding so badly by the time he made it back home. He’d had to work late, and it was well past dinner but he didn’t think he had the energy even for a microwave meal.

Work had utterly drained him, and he knew he might pass out at any given time. So immediately after he got home, he took out his contacts and hopped into the shower. Interactions like the one he’d had with his boss that afternoon always wore him down and he had to wash the heavy feeling off of his shoulders if he wanted any shot at relaxing that night.

He’d been on the verge of tears all day but he’d managed to hold himself together enough that he could finish washing his hair and dry off before climbing into his biggest sweatshirt and collapsing backwards onto his bed.

‘are you up?’ he texted Tsukishima then dropped his phone onto his chest to wait for his emotional support middle blocker to respond. Yamaguchi stared up at the ceiling while he waited, practicing the meditative breathing techniques he’d learned early on to help with his anxiety, and after twenty minutes, his phone rang. “Hi, Tsukki,” he said, answering before looking at the caller ID.

There was a moment of hesitation on the line before a voice that was certainly not Tsukishima said, “Heya, Yamaguchi-kun. Sorry, are ya waitin’ to hear from Tsukishima?”

“Osamu-san!” he exclaimed. “Yeah—well not really. He’s probably already asleep.”

“Already asleep? At eleven?”

“Hey, he’s a pro player and a functional member of society, unlike our volleyball idiots. He needs to get some rest.”

Osamu laughed softly. “Alright, you’ve got a point. I can call ya back later then if you think there’s a chance he’ll call.”

“No, that’s alright. What’s going on?”

“Not a whole lot,” Osamu said. “I just wanted to letcha know that I joined a neighborhood volleyball team.”

Yamaguchi felt something light up in his chest. “That’s great! How is it?” he asked, then a thought occurred to him. “An Osaka team, so everyone there—”

“Yeah, they all follow the Jackals. I think everyone’s first emotion when they saw me was fear, before they realized I wasn’t ‘Tsumu.” Osamu said that with a smile in his voice.

“I bet they’re going to lose it when your brother forces them to play a practice match with the Jackals.”

“Don’t you dare mention that to him, Yamaguchi-kun. He doesn’t need any ideas.”

Yamaguchi just laughed. “How is Atsumu-san?”

“Evil, like normal. Though he’s been bouncin’ off the walls since he and Hinata made things official. Even more so _now_. Did Hinata tell ya he’s introducin’ Atsumu to his mom?”

“He told us _while_ he was still on his date with Atsumu,” Yamaguchi smiled, shaking his head. “He’s really excited.”

“They’re both airheads like that,” Osamu replied in his easy way and Yamaguchi exhaled with some relief. Somehow after a long day of work, talking like this didn’t make him even more exhausted. He closed his eyes and the static of the line was almost recharging. “That was a heavy sigh. Everythin’ alright?”

“Yeah,” Yamaguchi said. “Just a busier day than I was expecting.”

Osamu took a second to process that before saying, “Well, I’ll letcha go then so you can get some rest. Just wanted to tell ya about the team.”

“No, wait,” Yamaguchi said, sitting up when he realized Osamu was about to hang up on him. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like I didn’t want to talk—just that I might fall asleep on you. Tell me more. Please.”

“A’right,” Osamu said softly. “Can I facetime ya?”

Yamaguchi pulled his phone away from his face and initiated the video call before Osamu could. Osamu was smiling slightly when he answered the call, but a moment later his smile fell and his eyes widened. Yamaguchi frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Oh, nothin’, nothin’. Those are, uh—I like yer glasses. They look good on ya.”

Yamaguchi laughed. “Oh, thanks. Sorry, I normally wear contacts, but work was rough today. I got ready for bed the moment I got home.”

“Did somethin’ happen? If you need to vent, I don’t mind listenin’.”

Yamaguchi hesitated. He did want to vent. _Badly_. But he didn’t want to dominate the conversation or drag down Osamu’s good mood. “You don’t want to talk about your team?”

“I do,” Osamu said. “But I wanna hear what’s on yer mind first.”

Yamaguchi sighed and laid back down on the bed on his stomach. He set his phone against the headboard and bunched up a pillow under his chin so he could still see his phone. “I screwed up at work today. It wasn’t anything irreversible and I was able to fix it. But I got yelled at by my boss. Which always sucks, but most of the time it’s not totally my fault, and it’s a lot worse when it is, you know?”

He watched Osamu nod before continuing,

“I ended up having to work overtime. Unpaid when it’s your fuck-up, which is fine—it makes sense. But it just felt like everyone was pissed with me since I wasn’t the one who had to deal with the customer’s complaint and someone else took the heat. It felt like things had been going well with my coworkers recently and I don’t want to have messed that up. It’s just,” Yamaguchi groaned before he took off his glasses and buried his face in his pillow. “I don’t know.”

Osamu was quiet for a moment before he said, “I’m sorry. That sounds stressful.” He paused awkwardly, and Yamaguchi realized he had a problem of befriending people who weren’t good at comforting others. “Wish I could give you a hug,” Osamu said eventually and Yamaguchi smiled into his pillow. Okay, maybe that was good enough for long-distance comforting.

“Yeah,” Yamaguchi said. “Me too.” Then he groaned loudly into his pillow to release some of his stress before he looked back up and smiled. “But it’s alr—”

“You’re really smart, Yamaguchi-kun. You’re a hard worker, and you’re compassionate. Everybody makes mistakes. Your coworkers know that, and so does your boss. They’re not gonna hold it against ya. You go back into work on Monday with that winnin’ smile of yours and everyone’ll fall for ya all over again. It’s gonna be alright. I promise.”

Yamaguchi swallowed and blinked a couple of times. He didn’t know what to say, and even if he did, he didn’t know if he could say it through the knot in his throat. Then, because he had to embarrass himself in every possible way, the tears he’d been holding back all day finally broke past his damn of pure willpower.

“Aw fuck,” Osamu murmured. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep or anythin’. Please don’t cry.”

Yamaguchi sniffled and reached for his phone ending the facetime call immediately.

_‘sorry,’_ Yamaguchi texted, sitting up and sliding backwards to lean against the backboard ‘ _give me a sec’_

Osamu responded not a moment later:

‘ _I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it worse,’_ followed quickly by, _‘I’m really sorry_ ’

Yamaguchi shook his head though no one could see him and hugged his legs against his chest. He didn’t try to stop himself from crying, but he managed to slow his breathing down so he didn’t sound hysterical when he called Osamu back, voice only instead of video.

Osamu picked up on the first ring.

“Sorry,” Yamaguchi said, voice trembling. “I’m not a pretty crier, you don’t need to see that.”

“Tadashi,” Osamu said softly, which only made Yamaguchi’s tears fall faster. “I’m really—”

“It’s not your fault,” he interrupted. “You don’t have to apologize. I’ve been a wreck all day. It was a matter of _when_ I would cry, not _if_.” He took a steadying breath and exhaled with a shaky laugh. “Thank you, Osamu-san. That… I really needed to hear that right now. Thank you.”

Osamu hesitated on the other side of the line and Yamaguchi muted himself to blow his nose before Osamu spoke. “You’re a good person and a good employee,” he said softly. “And if you need to hear that more often, I can tell ya every day.”

Yamaguchi held his sweatshirt up over his face to dry the constant stream of tears. “I might take you up on that,” he said. “Thank you. Really.”

“Yeah,” was all Osamu said.

Yamaguchi took a deep breath. “I’m gonna mute myself for a bit so you don’t hear me ugly-cry. Please tell me about your team.”

Osamu huffed a breath of air that wasn’t quite a laugh, but was close enough that Yamaguchi smiled into his sweatshirt. “Okay.”

So, half listening to Osamu talk about how embarrassed his new setter was to be setting for _the_ Miya Atsumu’s old partner, and half crying into his old sweatshirt, Yamaguchi let go of the stress of the whole day.

“Are you feelin’ any better?” Osamu asked softly once he’d valiantly managed to fill the one-sided conversation for upwards of ten minutes.

“I am,” Yamaguchi said, and even though his voice was raw from crying, he meant it. “I think I’m going to try to go to sleep and reset for the weekend.” He let out a measured exhale. “Thank you for keeping me company.”

“Any time,” Osamu said, and Yamaguchi knew he meant it.

After the call ended, Yamaguchi downed all the water remaining in his Britta and true to his word, did pass out the moment he was under his covers.

Sobbing on the phone with his crush was clearly the catharsis he needed because he slept nearly twelve hours straight and his pounding headache from the day before was completely gone.

He picked up his phone and grumbled a tired, “Oops,” when he saw he’d missed several calls and texts from Tsukishima. The texts read,

‘ _Sorry I was asleep,’ ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Call me when you wake up_.’

Yamaguchi rolled over and dialed Tsukishima’s number. It rang for quite a while, but he picked up before the call went to voicemail, and answered with a slightly breathless, “Hello?” There were sounds of shoes squeaking and balls hitting the floor in the background.

“Hey, Tsukki. Are you at practice?”

“Yeah, I am.” Then the sound of a door shutting interrupted the volleyball sounds, and the background noise stopped. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Yamaguchi said. “Sorry for texting you so late. I’d just had a bad day.”

Tsukishima sighed. “That’s not something you have to apologize for. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I’m really alright now. Osamu actually called me last night and talked me through it.”

“Oh, so you get a hunk calling you in the middle of the night to offer comfort, is that how it is now?”

Yamaguchi snickered. “Guess so. Jealous?”

“Only partly,” Tsukishima spoke with a grin in his words, but was a little more serious when he said. “I’m glad he was there for you.”

“Yeah, me too,” Yamaguchi said before remembering Hinata’s trip and taking the conversation back to less emotional waters. “Oh, since Hinata is going to be in Miyagi this weekend with Atsumu, do you want me to text him and see if he wants to grab a drink?”

“Yeah, why don’t—” He heard Tsukishima shout over his shoulder before he said, “Sorry, Kogane came to check on me. Why don’t you text the group chat? Maybe we can find a time tomorrow. I should get back to practice. Glad things worked out last night.”

“Yeah,” Yamaguchi said softly only to hear Tsukishima gag.

“Ew, don’t be so mushy,” he laughed. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes but they both said their goodbyes and hung up. Then Yamaguchi set his mind on making up for the previous day.

He found a recipe for cookies that he would take into work on Monday, in case his _winnin’ smile_ wasn’t quite enough.

He’d been so emotionally unstable the night before, that Osamu’s words hadn’t really set in beyond their meaning. And remembering that phrase made him actually process it and he covered his face on instinct to hide his blush. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so blatantly complimented like that. _Damn it_ , he cursed himself. _I’m in deep_.

He decided to make use of his good mood to get the things he let slip through the cracks done, and got so invested in it that he didn’t register that someone had knocked on the door for a solid thirty seconds. Though when he did, he immediately perked up. It wasn’t that he _expected_ meals from Osamu at this point, but he could still be hopeful. When he opened the door, his eyes were cast to the ground, thinking he was looking for a package, but when he saw a pair of Converse on his welcome mat, he looked up immediately and felt his face flush deeply.

“Osamu-san?” he said, knowing his voice came out a lot higher than he meant it to.

Miya Osamu was standing awkwardly outside of his apartment, a backpack slung over his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said as a preamble, not meeting Yamaguchi’s eyes. “You just seemed so bummed yesterday, and Hinata and ‘Tsumu were already comin’ up and they said they wouldn’t mind if I tagged along. I shoulda letcha know ahead of time, but I was thinkin’ I could cook for you or somethin’—”

Osamu was cut off as Yamaguchi stepped outside and threw his arms around Osamu’s shoulders, hugging him tightly. Osamu was clearly surprised, but he was quick to return the hug.

Despite what he’d said after their practice match, Osamu was still stronger than Yamaguchi—and certainly stronger than Tsukishima or anyone else he could ask for a hug when he was upset. He didn’t know how nice it would feel to be held so tightly that it was _easier_ to breathe, like something was lifted from his chest in that moment.

Osamu didn’t try to pull out of the hug but he did turn them around awkwardly, and walked backwards into the apartment, Yamaguchi stumbling after him, before shutting the door. Then one of his hands went up to Yamaguchi’s hair, to tuck his head into Osamu’s shoulder and Yamaguchi felt himself melt.

_I’m not going to cry, I’m not going to cry,_ he told himself firmly as he scrunched his eyes shut.

“You can cry, if you need to,” Osamu said, reading his thoughts, and Yamaguchi shook his head, finally pulling back and taking a deep breath that wasn’t filled with Osamu’s hair product to clear his mind.

“I’m alright,” he said. “Really.”

Osamu smiled slightly, and he moved his hand from Yamaguchi’s hair to cup his cheek briefly before he dropped his arm back to his side. “Glad to hear it,” he said, then stepped back to look around. Silently he took in the decorations and the pictures he had of his family and his friends. Yamaguchi couldn’t look away from his face, drinking in how soft he looked in that moment. Then Osamu recognized he was being too quiet for a house guest and looked back to Yamaguchi. “Are ya hungry?”

Osamu was standing in Yamaguchi’s kitchen in his socks being instructed as to where he could find ingredients and bowls and utensils while Yamaguchi sat on the counter, watching him with the softest eyes.

Though it seemed like he had just finished doing a certain amount of mental math and was frowning now. “Wait you decided to come last night? How early did you have to leave this morning?”

“The train left around six AM,” Osamu said, as he carefully sliced the soba into thin strips. “Atsumu normally wakes me up at dawn anyways, so it’s not that early for me.”

Yamaguchi stared at him incredulously, but Osamu ignored that in favor of finishing the noodles.

After that, it was surprising how easily they passed the day. When they weren’t cooking, they were talking, or passing the volleyball around, or talking and passing the volleyball around. Yamaguchi initiated touch between them often enough, that Osamu didn’t feel too awkward when he set his arm around Yamaguchi’s shoulders as they sat on the couch together, and he nearly swore aloud when Yamaguchi leaned closer to him, snaking his own arm around Osamu’s waist.

But all good things end, as Osamu has painfully learned, and hours after the sun set, he finally decided he would end his impromptu invasion of Yamaguchi’s space. Though as he put on his backpack by the door, he was stopped.

“You came all this way to cheer me up, cooked for me, and now you think you’re spending the night in a hotel?” Yamaguchi asked, his voice surprisingly confrontational.

Osamu stared at him for a moment. “Well, I didn’t want to travel both ways in one day.”

Yamaguchi dropped his head into his hands and shook his head. “That’s so not my point.”

“Then I’m not quite sure I know whatcha mean, Yamaguchi-kun,” Osamu said, fidgeting with the strap of his backpack. But he stopped when Yamaguchi’s hand covered his before he moved behind Osamu to tug on his backpack until Osamu got the hint and pulled his arms from the straps so Yamaguchi could remove his backpack. He turned around to watch Yamaguchi carefully set his backpack on the floor before locking the dead bolt. Osamu watched him carefully until Yamaguchi finally met his eyes.

“Stay here tonight,” he requested and Osamu’s eyes widened.

He tried to say something but his voice died in his throat, so he just nodded. Yamaguchi smiled at him. He stepped closer, and suddenly Osamu felt like he was no longer the fox in this situation.

Once he was standing just in front of Osamu, he reached up to brush Osamu’s dark hair from his forehead and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Again Osamu tried to speak but found that he couldn’t. So he just nodded again, feeling like a damn bobble-head. His embarrassment just seemed to be amusing to the tease in front of him, who let the hand in Osamu’s hair drift to his cheek before he lifted the other to the back of Osamu’s neck, running his nails through the clean shave of his undercut.

Then Osamu let himself be guided forward into the softest kiss of his life.

He didn’t realize his eyes were still open until he processed how nice Yamaguchi’s freckles were up close. Then he snapped them shut as he set his hands on Yamaguchi’s hips, leaning forwards but following Yamaguchi’s lead.

Then he was being led backwards, with Yamaguchi’s body pressed flush against him. He startled when his legs hit the back of the couch and he broke the kiss as he sat down on the arm of the sofa. He looked up to watch Yamaguchi remove his glasses and set them on the coffee table before he brought his knee to rest beside Osamu’s hip and ducked back in for a deeper kiss.

If that hadn’t knocked him breathless, then the feeling of falling backwards from the arm onto the couch certainly did.

Yamaguchi pulled away before they made contact with the cushion so they didn’t smash their noses together and laughed slightly against Osamu’s cheek. But before Yamaguchi could kiss him again, Osamu reached up to grab his wrists and pull Yamaguchi’s hands from his neck down to his chest. “Hang on, Yamaguchi-kun,” he said. “You’re gonna have to give me a sec to catch my breath.”

He opened his eyes and saw Yamaguchi looking terribly concerned. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to rush you,” he said and tried to pull back but Osamu clasped his hands tighter.

“No, really, I only need a second,” Osamu assured him. “You’re not rushin’ me. You’re just better at this than I am,” he said with a grin.

Yamaguchi let out a sigh of relief and grinned in response. He did tug his hands free, but didn’t move away. He just leaned against the back of the couch, resting his cheek on his hand while Osamu caught his breath. “Is volleyball not the only thing you’re out of practice in?” he teased.

Osamu was already overheating, but that was the final blow. He covered his face with his arms. “Stop it, you’re killin’ me here.”

Yamaguchi just snickered, and because he knew he wasn’t ever going to cool down otherwise, Osamu propped himself off of the couch enough that he could tug his shirt over his head before tossing it onto the floor. When he looked back at Yamaguchi, he saw he’d finally managed to pull one over on him and laughed until Yamaguchi stopped staring.

“Hey, you don’t have to look so surprised. It’s kinda hurtful. Just ‘cause I don’t play volleyball much anymore doesn’t mean I don’t work out.”

Yamaguchi shook his head. “Do you know how much I would have to work out to look like this? It’s just not fair. How many pushups can you do?”

“Is that something you’re supposed to count? I just do ‘em till I get bored.”

“Unreal,” Yamaguchi complained and climbed off of Osamu’s lap. “Come over here,” he ordered before ripping his own shirt off and dropping to the ground. “We’re gonna see who can do more.”

“Come on now, Yamaguchi-kun,” Osamu frowned. “If I wanted to compete with anyone today, I woulda gone to Hinata’s with ‘Tsumu.”

“Maybe I’m into getting my confidence obliterated. You don’t know.”

Osamu snickered but obliged and got into position besides Yamaguchi before they began to do push-ups. They both made it to 100 easily, but around 200 Yamaguchi began to slow down, and by 253, he gave up. He sat up and cursed.

“Seriously. You’re unreal,” he repeated.

From just beside him, Osamu just grinned, “You’re pretty unreal, yourself.” Then, in a moment of bravery, he laid down, resting his head on Yamaguchi’s thigh. Not quite in his lap, but close enough.

Yamaguchi was still breathing heavily, but he smiled and dropped a hand to Osamu’s hair to comb out any of the tangles from the gel he used. But then he tilted his head and frowned slightly. “Can I ask you something?” he asked and Osamu’s eyes widened.

“Anything.”

“Back when we played our practice match, you said I was scrawnier in high school—”

“I didn’t mean that as an insult!” Osamu objected, jolting up only for Yamaguchi to push him back down with a gentle hand on his forehead.

“I know,” he said lightly. “I’ve just been wondering since then. Did you really remember me?”

Osamu blinked a couple of times. “Of course I did?”

“How?” Yamaguchi asked and at Osamu’s confused look he continued. “I mean, people like Hinata and you and your brother are pretty unforgettable. But I’ve played against a lot of teams, and I’ve forgotten most of the people on them—”

“You were pretty unforgettable too, you know,” Osamu interrupted. “Especially our second match. It was pretty clear who was gonna take over the team when the third years left. I never thought ‘Tsumu was captain material. But I saw it in you. You really are somethin’ special.”

Yamaguchi was quiet for a long moment before a gentle smile played in his eyes and leaned down to kiss Osamu again.

When Yamaguchi woke up that morning to the warmth of someone’s breath on his collarbone, he nearly startled into sitting up. But he managed to restrain himself, and was so thankful for that fact, because he got to look down to see Osamu’s cheek resting against his shoulder, face relaxed and peaceful. Yamaguchi leaned his head backwards, casting a prayer of thanks to the heavens before carefully leaning over to grab his phone before opening snapchat. He snapped a quick selfie, a peace sign resting just behind Osamu’s shoulder, and saved it to his phone before sending it to the group chat.

Then, carefully, he slid out from beneath Osamu. He snatched his glasses from the bedside table and quietly left the room. Osamu didn’t stir—likely a consequence of sharing a room with his noisy brother for the first 18 years of his life. Then he got to work.

Osamu emerged from Yamaguchi’s bedroom a short while later, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Morning, Osamu-san,” Yamaguchi greeted and when Osamu got a good look at him, he smiled sleepily.

“G’mornin’,” he said. “Are you makin’ breakfast?”

Yamaguchi nodded, “Only meal I can actually do well.”

Osamu took a seat at the table to watch him cook. “I’ll be the judge of that,” he joked lightly, but when Yamaguchi set a plate in front of him, Yamaguchi wasn’t sure he tasted it with how fast he ate. He did remember Atsumu mentioning his brother’s appetite, but it was still amusing to watch.

“Rate my plate?” he asked, sipping his coffee slowly.

“Can I hire ya to work at my restaurant?” Osamu asked and Yamaguchi laughed brightly.

“Do you even serve breakfast food?”

“We could start.”

Yamaguchi shook his head fondly, but was quiet for a moment as he ran his finger along the top of his mug idly. “I wanted to thank you, again. For making the trip here. It meant a lot.”

Osamu’s smile was a little lopsided as he shrugged shyly. “You don’t have to thank me. It was kinda selfish. I really wanted to see you.”

“I wanted to see you too. Being so far away kind of sucks,” Yamaguchi said then swallowed. “But—ah. Well, how would you feel if I came to Osaka next weekend?”

Osamu nearly dropped his fork with how quickly he perked up. “You’d do that, Yamaguchi-kun?”

Yamaguchi nodded. “Also, if we’re being selfish here, I have a request.”

“Anythin’.”

“Will you call me Tadashi?”

Osamu blinked, before he stood up. He walked around the table before setting one hand on the back of Yamaguchi’s chair, and bringing his other hand to Yamaguchi’s cheek. Osamu straightened his glasses with his thumb and tilted Yamaguchi’s head back just slightly. “As long as we’re bein’ selfish? You’ll never get me to stop,” he said, before kissing him once more. “Tadashi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long distance must be hard :\ though I think when the Tokyo olympics roll around, the miyas (and hinata) might make the permanent move there. And if yamaguchi ends up at a tech company there, well who is going to complain <3
> 
> I really hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> I can't justify writing this i've been putting off so much homework, but here it is! Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: [prideandpre-judas](https://prideandpre-judas.tumblr.com/)


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